He added that while a second referendum could overturn the Government's position, there was no better alternative on the table.

He went on to chide politicians who had suggested Britain could secure the perfect withdrawal from the EU, saying that any deal with Brussels would require compromise.

'Any satisfactory Brexit deal was necessarily a compromise. The idea of a "pure" or "maximal" Brexit, which would somehow make a clean sweep and give us a completely blank page to write on, was a childish dream, and no serious politician should have entertained it,' he wrote.

'The work of politics is to find workable and just compromises. There are no blank pages in politics; there are only good relationships, strengthened by past co-operation, and bad relationships soured by disappointments and betrayals.'